Garde At War
by Danny vs A Month
Summary: James and friends struggle with training new Garde while also fighting against a new threat. Where there are good people like James and Sam to receive Legacies, there are also inevitably those less deserving. Can the Garde handle the new threat?
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.

* * *

Accident

Lights pass in a steady rhythm as the truck rumbles down the road. The driver squints as each light passes. The monotony of the drive is suffocating. The steady hum of the engine. The perfectly-timed passing of a light every two seconds. The oddly comforting randomness of the bumps in the road. Hum. Squint. Bump. Squint. Bump. Bump. Squint. Bump. Hum. Squint.

On and on. Time crawls by so he counts lights. One. Two. Three. Four is out. Five. Six. Seven. Eventually he just stops counting. He yawns, blinking the tiredness from his eyes. Bump. Squint. Squint. hum. Snore.

He glances to the side, checking on his ever-helpful sleeping navigator. Her head's against the window, died blonde hair falling in front of her face. The map had long ago slipped onto the floor and she's snoring softly, barely more than breathing. He turns his eyes back to the road. Squint. Squint. Bump.

He blinks again and a sign materializes beside the car. He groans, slowing to a stop on the side of the road, between street lights. He loves small towns. Only there can you be in the middle of the woulds and still be lulled to sleep by street lights.

He opens the door and gets out, closing it again before the dinging can wake his copilot. He steps around in front of the vehicle and stretches, yawning. He looks around, watching the trees for any signs of deer or moose. Nothing. Just evergreen trees and bushes.

He yawns again and climbs back in, taking a long drink of Amp only to yawn again. He sighs, setting his forehead against the steering wheel and staring at the gas gage. A quarter left. He sighs. Should have stopped for gas after all.

"Would you like me to drive?" his copilot asks.

"No," He says. "Just taking a minute. We still got the gas can in the back?"

"Two."

"Good. We might need them."

He sits up, buckling himself back in and pulling back onto the road. He keeps his eyes roaming. It's rare that he drive so long without even seeing any sign of wildlife. He's overdue. Try as he might, the monotony of the ride soon returns. Squint. Bump. Squint.

His copilot tries to stay awake, but before long her head is bobbing. He glances over at her and smiles. She really is trying. Twenty four hours of driving and three hours of sleep and she's still trying to stay awake for him.

"Sleep, he says finally.

She nods and leans on the window again. He turns back to the road just as the streetlights end. He flicks on the high beams. Time begins to drag on again. The engine drones on and on and he feels his eyes struggling to stay open. He blinks rapidly just as he spots movement off to the right. He steps on the brake just as a huge black shape surges out of the trees.

* * *

His head aches. He opens his eyes and pain lances through him, starting win his forehead, and then shooting backward into his head, then bouncing back to his temples. He groans, gently rubbing his temples and looking around. He can tell he was upside down, but the headlights were out, leaving everything in darkness.

He reaches up to the roof of the cab, carefully feeling around the broken glass until he finds his flashlight, a small three inch one that costs a few dollars at Walmart. He taps it against his palm and clicks it on, the light sending pain lancing through his head again.

He looks out the shattered driver-side window and sees only darkness. He sighs and sweeps the light beam around the cab. Shattered window, destroyed dash, destroyed passenger door, hood ripped off. No copilot seat or copilot. His eyes widen and he sets the light down, carefully climbing partway out of his seat belt before releasing it, allowing him to land lightly on his back.

He picks the light back up and crawls out through his side window, standing and looking around. There's a trail of broken glass and truck parts along the path they had torn through the grass on the side of the road. There's no sign of the thing they hit, or of the passenger seat.

"Kristen!" he shouts. "Kristen"

He steps away from the truck and his left leg wobbles, a throb of pain shooting through it from his knee. He grits his teeth, limping back to where the truck left the road then walking into the trees. He begins to carefully make his way through the bushes, picking strands of thorn-covered vines out of the way as he looks around for the passenger seat.

After he had gotten a hundred yards or so past the truck, he stops, leaning against a tree. If she had landed further in, she had hit a tree first. There's no other way. He looks further on and raises the flashlight, seeing the light catch on something. His heart catches in his throat and he hurries forward, finding the seat with Kristen still strapped in, though the seatbelt is simply stuck with the top strap trapped under the headrest and the rest between the back and seat.

He kneels, pressing two fingers to her neck and she groans, pushing them away.

"That's bright," she groans, shielding her eyes as he sets the light down and carefully sets her upright.

"Anything broken?" he asks.

"Just a concussion," she groans, pulling the seatbelt off. "What did we hit?"

"Bear maybe," he guesses. "I don't really remember." He sits down beside her and sighs. "Guess we didn't need that gas after all."

She laughs then feels her pocket and groans. "Phone's broke. Yours?"

"Maybe in the truck," he sighs. "I just want to sit here for a minute."

"We have to call for a tow truck," she says.

"Or a cab," he snorted. "What road are we even on?"

"I was asleep," she smirks. "That was your job."

He sighs, standing carefully, then helping her up, and they make their way back to the truck, searching for his phone. After a moment, he finds it and pressed the power button. The screen lights up, green at first, but then blinking off and on to a normal screen, despite the spiderweb of cracks on the entire front. He carefully dials nine-one-one and reports the accident, asking for a tow truck. Then, he sits against the side of the truck, beside Kristen.

"They said to leave my location on and they'd track it," he says.

"They can do that?" she asks.

"No, I'm joking," he says. "I used gGoogle Maps to tell them where we are. It'll be a little over an hour."

"Great. We're going to be late aren't we?"

"We'll be lucky to get there at all," he chuckles. "We might make the reception."

"Good. I'm watching you dance even if it's at the hospital."

"Of course," he sighs stretching, feeling his neck and back starting to stiffen up. "I'm going to sleep."

She nods in agreement, leaning on his shoulder as he leans back against the truck. After a moment, the bushes rustle and he shines the flashlight, illuminating a buck.

"Oh wow. Where's my shotgun when I need it?"

Kristen snorts in amusement just as the deer takes off, dashing away from them into the trees. She sighs, leaning back against the truck just as the bushes rustle again and a pair of eyes begin to reflect the light from the trees.

"Didn't stay gone long did he?" she asks.

"That's got to be a different one," he says. "It's shorter."

She nods, holding her hand out and clicking her tongue. "Come here darling. Come on. Don't be scared."

"Kristen?" he speaks up after a moment. "Why does it look like that deer is really fat?"

She opens her mouth to speak but then closes it again, swallowing. "I don't think that's a deer."

* * *

The light stops searching around the truck as it finds the blood. Two deep pools of it with more on the side of the truck and two trails leading away where something was dragged.

"Better call the canine team," the officer says. "And have them bring shotguns. Looks like a wild animal attack, again."

"Great," his partner sighs. "Twelve. Maybe they'll let us actually hunt this thing this time."

"Hopefully," the first nods in agreement. "Make the call."

* * *

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	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.

* * *

Training

I fold my arms across my chest as I watch the others train. They are doing well. The school has become very popular after an incident involving an untrained "L.A.N.E." trying to stop a robbery because he was bullet proof. Unfortunately, it turned out his invulnerability was actually force reflection. After being sprayed with machine guns, he punched a robber and sent out a shockwave that leveled the bank and two more buildings, killing twelve and wounding thirty.

John had claimed responsibility instantly, saving the child from life in prison, instead enrolling him in the school. Now, I am his personal trainer because I can block his explosions while he learns to control it. Aside from my duties training him, I am in charge of policing all of the "L.A.N.E."s . It is kind of like the x-men, sort of.

The ones that we allowed into the police force for "L.A.N.E."s are the ones we actually call the Garde now, while the others we simply called Lorien.

"Easy Jack," I speak up as one with super strength barely misses his opponent then fractures the concrete floor. "You break her neck around backward and she's dead."

Jack nods, pushing his steel-rimmed glasses back up his freckle-covered nose, running a hand through his messy hair. He isn't the type to be expected to do great things. Glasses, braces, freckles, khakis, he even wears a plaid shirt with two pens and a pencil in the left breast pocket. And yet, he's the most loyal of my students, and one of the bravest. Plus, his strength already rivals Nine's.

Jack's opponent, Lisa, has a natural affinity for blades, heightened reaction time like my own, super speed, and telepathy. She's about Marina's height with her long black hair in a messy ponytail, blue jean shorts, a white blouse, and a pair of Puma tennis shoes.

Lisa darts forward, swiping at Jack, who blocks the strike before spinning around her, planting a foot between hers and tripping her. She grunts as she hits the ground just as one of the other few sparring matches goes sideways for one of the pair. Hawkeye shouts as he flips through the air, crashing down hard then scrambling away as Anna, a younger-than-usual girl about eight with telekinesis, invisibility, strength, and flight, floats after him. I grin as Anna watched Hawkeye silently, her short brown hair blowing in the breeze of one of the overhead fans and her yellow dress with a large white bow in the back flapping noisily.

"Woo!" I cheer, grinning. "Get him Anna!"

Several others laugh, watching the chase. It's short-lived. After a few seconds, she turns invisible only to reappear in front of him and clothesline him.

"They're getting better," Nine says, stepping up beside me.

"Yes they are," I nod, turning toward him. "How long's it been since we had a call?"

"Couple months," Nine muses thoughtfully. "We must be getting rusty by now. Almost makes me miss the Mogs."

"I will never miss them," I say, turning back to the students. "Adam's one thing, but the rest..."

"Thats fair," Nine nods just as Ran walks in, Nine grinning instantly. "Your teacher's pet is here."

I roll my eyes and drop to the ground in front of her, smiling.

"Good morning Ran," I greet.

"Morning," Ran smiles back.

She's learned some English, with Ella's help. She still struggles, but at least I no longer have to translate for her. She still isn't allowed to spar with anyone but me, however, which is why Nine calls her the teacher's pet.

"How Marina?" Ran asks.

"Good," I smile. "She's away dealing with some things with John at the moment, but she'll be back in a couple of days."

Ran nods, smiling, before suddenly I'm looking up at my feet and the ceiling above them. As my back slams into the ground, I can hear the other students all howling with laughter. After all, it's not every day someone so easily takes me down. I sigh, standing and then wave a hand, sending Ran spinning through the air. She flips and spins for several seconds before her hands snap out and she halts her flight, lowering herself to the ground with Telekinesis.

I groan. She's gotten a lot better since the last time we fought. And I really hate fighting her. Her main legacy, making things explode, is annoying to try to contain, especially while also trying to win a fight. To put it simply, I absolutely hate fighting Ran.

"You've improved," I say.

"And also you," Ran smiles.

I sigh as Ran reaches into her pocket, pulling out a small marble. I really hate her power. The marble begins to glow and she flicks it at me. I form dozens of levels of barriers around it but the explosion blasts through them all, hurling me but not doing serious damage. I crash down on my back as she reached into her pocket again. I roll backward onto my feet as she pulls out a handful of plastic pellets. They're already glowing as they leave her pocket and she tilts her hand, spilling them. I catch them in a ball of barriers as strong as I can make them but once again the blast sends me flying. I flip through the air, catching myself with Telekinesis and lower myself to the floor.

"Your legacy is annoying," I grumble as she laughs, flipping a quarter in her hand. "Oh for the love of..."

She flicks it at me, the quarter beginning to glow in mid air, and I flick it skyward with Telekinesis, wrapping it in force fields as it went. Then, it explodes, once again throwing me. As I struggle to my feet, I find her standing in front of me. Her fist swings up at me and I knock the punch aside, ducking as the other shoots up as well. I spin past her then stand, my fist drilling into the underside of her jaw, making her stagger backward. I lunge, throwing a jab but she leans to the side, slamming a hook into my jaw. I spin away from her, her foot hooking one of mine. As I begin to trip, I throw myself forward, landing in a roll then rolling to my feet, drawing my pistol just in time for her to grab it, punching me in the gut then spinning, pulling the slid off of my gun and slamming it into the side of my face, making me stagger to the side.

I flick my wrist and the slide follows, sailing past me as I spin, blocking a jab then ducking under a hook. As I'm standing, a roundhouse kick flashes up toward me and crashes into my forearms before I wrap an arm around to it. Then, in one fluid motion, I slam a palm strike into her opposite shoulder and sweep her support leg out from under her, letting her fall and slam her back into the floor. Before I can do anything else, her hand flashes up, a cloud of glowing lint filling the air inside of my instinctive barrier. I yank both of us into the barrier, the telekinetic energy in it sending us both flying just ahead of the explosion, saving us both.

As we land, Ran flips, running her fingers through her hair and grinning as a couple of loose strands come free. I roll my eyes. Literally anything is a deadly weapon for her. She sprints at me and I sprint forward. the hair streaks through the air, glowing, and I stop its telekinetic flight before encasing it in force fields, blocking the explosion this time, thank God, then slide under a roundhouse kick she had meant to greet me with. As I climb to my feet and spin, a red glow catches my eye and I spin, my hand clamping over her fingers, trapping her glowing quarter-sized marble in her own hand. The glow fades instantly and I grin.

"Draw," I say. "I can accept that. You've become very strong Ran. Your hand to hand combat is amazing. Even with my reflexes you can give me a hard time. I'm pretty sure you got the reflexes too."

Ran smiles widely as I release her hand and she tosses the marble into the air then catches it and slips it back into her pocket. The other students begin cheering and I grin toward them.

"And this is why you all will never see Ran training," I say. "It's annoyingly hard to train her when she kicks my ass half the time."

"You win more," Ran said.

I roll my eyes and pick up the pieces of my gun, putting it back together and holstering it. Then, I walk back to Nine and turn to watch as the others return to their training.

"You've got some real potential in these kids," Nine says.

"I agree," I nod. "You sure you don't want your job as a glorified x-man back? It comes with all the benefits. Danger, death threats, the promise of a short life."

"Sounds like heaven," Nine chuckled. "But no. The less skilled kids need training too, since you mostly handle the Garde, well, them an Marina."

"I'll make you fight Ran," I smirk and Nine chuckles.

"Talk about the promise of a short life," he laughs. "I doubt if anyone without the Flyrokinesis could beat her."

"You speed probably could," I say.

"Maybe," Nine says. "Listen. I got a call earlier, something about an unusually high number of extremely gruesome and bloody animal attacks along a stretch of highway. The cops doubt it's anything for us, they just wanted us to be warned in case they need help."

"I'll have Lexa keep an eye out," I nod.

Nine nods as well and I grin.

"What?" Nine asks.

"It just occurred to me," I say. "We're like the x-men, but Lexa's our Oracle."

"Oracle?" Nine asks.

"Oh that is unacceptable," I snort. "You are definitely reading the Batman comics. You'll love them. You'll probably also be wearing your underwear outside of your pants for a month."

"Why the hell would I do that?" Nine asks.

"You'll see," I chuckle.

Nine rolls his eyes, shaking his head before turning and walking away. I turn back to the students and smile as I see Ran is teaching them to trip someone by yanking their feet. Then, the smile is wiped away as I'm turned into her guinea pig. Again.

* * *

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	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.

* * *

Target

"You're sure?" I ask.

"Absolutely," Lexa nods. "There have been way too many to be normal. I don't know if it's shapeshifting, or animal telepathy, or if it's even an Earth animal, but it's definitely not normal."

"Alright," I nod. "I'll go check it out."

"Not alone," Lexa says. "Take a couple of the students with you."

"Alright," I sigh. "I'll take Jack and Lisa."

"That's the strong kid and the girl with speed and blade skills, right?" Lexa asks.

"Yeah," I nod. "They've both been on missions before, so they know how to handle themselves. Plus, they're one of the best two-man teams we've got."

"Well, let's face it," Lexa says. "You don't have many teams. You've got, what, five kids? Ran, Jack, Lisa, that little girl Anna, and the kid that explodes?"

"Mike, yeah," I nod. "He's...challenging."

"You mean he's a time bomb with an uncontrollable legacy," Lexa corrects.

"Everyone can be helped, Lexa," I say. "But yeah, he's a bit...destructive."

Lexa nods then turns to her computer.

"One more thing," Lexa says turning the monitor to me, the image of a demolished field in the woods showing on the screen.

The field has massive stone spikes jutting out of the ground, broken chunks of ground thrown about, and a massive crack runs through the center of the field.

"Looks like there's a new student not far from the site," Lexa says.

"Looks like a geomancer," I say. "That'll be interesting. I think we might need Adam to help him."

"Probably," Lexa nods. "Or, you can bite the bullet and finally ask Ella to help you, since she knows everything about every legacy and can tell what everyone has by looking at them."

"You know why I won't do that," I say.

"Actually, I can't remember why you're so afraid of Ella anymore," Lexa says. "It's been more than a year since John passed out those necklaces. Have you even been back to the cave since then?"

"No," I sigh. "Look, I need to get going, alright? Can you pester me about this later?"

"Yeah, sure," Lexa waves, dismissively. "Go on."

I turn and walk out of the room, returning to the gym and finding the others all sitting together, enjoying lunch. Darn. I was kind of hoping I could avoid spoiling their lunch.

"Jack, Lisa, we've got a mission when you get done eating," I say.

They both nod, quickly finishing as Anna looks disappointed.

"You'll get your shot Anna," Lisa smiles. "It's just that you're still young."

"But I wanna help," Anna complains. "I can beat Hawkeye already."

"We can all beat Hawkeye," Lisa chuckles. "Tell you what, when I get back, we'll see if we can go shopping."

Anna grins widely and nods, and Lisa and Jack walk over to stop in front of me.

"What's the mission?" Jack asks.

"First we're going to investigate an unusually high number of very messy animal-related deaths, then we're going to track down a geomancer," I say.

"Animal-related deaths?" Lisa asks. "So, we're working as pest control?"

"Lisa thinks it's either animal telepathy or shapeshifting," I say. "Whichever it is, we're going to stop it."

Lisa nods and I look to Jack.

"Go and tell Nine we're heading on the mission he found, then meet us in the garage," I say, Jack nodding and hurrying off.

Lisa and I walk to the garage, looking through all of the vehicles the government "gifted" to us, which we then found and removed a half dozen tracking devices each before we brought them back here.

"So, is Marina coming back soon?" Lisa asks as we choose a black Ford Mustang.

"Eventually," I say.

"Are you two having trouble?" Lisa asks. "I heard your had to call off your marriage, but I didn't realize..."

"We're fine," I say. "It's nothing like that. She's just training with John because recently her Cryokinesis has been starting to get out of control."

"I see," Lisa nods. "So, why did you two never get married?"

"The day of the wedding, we got a call to go and deal with a Lorien that had been in the process of robbing the bank," I say. "We called off the wedding for the day and went to fight him. It was easy enough, but when we tried to get married the next day, we got another call. then the day after that, the day after that, and the day after that. I suppose in the end, we just decided that we'd wait until we had someone we could send in our place."

"And then eventually, it just turned into you waiting for nothing?" Lisa asks.

I look up at her and she gives me a knowing skeptical look.

"You and I both know that you could easily send us in your place now if it came to it," Lisa says. "I may not be one of the originals like you or Ran, but we're strong enough to handle almost anything we need to. You've been stalling for a year. How come?"

"God, you're almost as bad as Ella," I sigh.

"We ready?" Jack suddenly asks, walking over.

"Yes," I say, grateful that he's here. "Everybody hop in. I'll drive."

They climb in and we pull out of the garage, following the mile-long driveway to the road, then heading away from the school toward where the attacks had happened. The ride was quiet, no one talking and Lisa continually glancing at me in the rearview mirror. Then, as the hours dragged by, she and Jack finally drifted off to sleep. I sighed, staring out at the road, listening to the drone of the engine and watching the streetlights pass over us in a steady, calming pattern. My mind began to drift to Marina. Lisa was right, of course. So was Ella. I was stalling. Even after all this time, I was still afraid that my curse would hurt her, especially if we were married. Ella was still mad at me for being stupid, but she understood. However, the thing that worried me most was Marina starting to lose control of her Cryokinesis. I had asked Ella about it once already, but Ella had been vague when responding that John might be able to help. Something told me that Ella had known this would happen, because she didn't seem surprised, or overly concerned. Not that she ever really did about anything anymore. That tends to happen when you've seen dozens of different possible futures, I suppose. If not more.

There's a flash of light before us, a reflection off of something small, and I slam on the brakes, encasing all three of us in force fields, then the car. A moment later, something massive and black practically materializes out of the darkness in front of us, the mustang crashing headlong into it and flipping end for end. I grit my teeth, squeezing my eyes shut as we crash along the ground for dozens of meters before finally skidding to a stop. I let all of the forcefields fade, only the ones protecting us having remained, and look around. Both are awake, wide-eyed, and staring out my window. I slowly turn toward it, staring into a pair of glowing red eyes in a pitch black face, a snout only a few inches from my face.

"Hello there," I say shakily. "Sorry about hitting you."

The thing snorts and moves so fast it seems to vanish. I scramble out of the vehicle and look around, but the thing is nowhere in sight.

"Is it gone?" Lisa asks, standing.

"Maybe," I say, scanning the darkness.

"It might be hiding," Jack says, walking around the destroyed car to stand beside us. "I don't think it meant to harm us, though. Or it would have."

"Maybe it doesn't like Lorien," Lisa suggests.

"I sincerely doubt that's it," I say. "I really wish John were here. He'd come in handy."

"Don't you have a flashlight?" Lisa asks.

"I don't need it," I say. "John would be helpful for you two."

"Do you see it then?" Lisa asks.

"No," I say. "But I see where the last vehicle ended up. Come with me. And stay close."

I walk over to a spot where there are two massive blood stains and pieces of scrap metal everywhere. There were drag marks and a trail of blood away from the spot so I began to follow it, jack and Lisa each holding onto one of my shoulders. As we walk, I hear Lisa draw her bowie knife. She's getting jumpy and is gripping my shoulder slightly harder. Understandable. She's not a fan of the dark.

Finally I stop as a cave comes into view.

"Why'd you stop?" Lisa hisses.

"We're at a cave," I say as a pair of red eyes slowly become visible in the mouth of the cave. "It's here."

Lisa's grip tightens while Jack lets go. I glance over, seeing him crouch, readying himself.

I look back at the creature as it steps forward, eyes fading to white as its black body lightens to dark brown and a pair of ratty, torn shorts form hanging loosely from his waist, his toned upper body bare as he strides toward us. He snaps his fingers as he does, and a pair of floodlights snap on, blinding us three momentarily.

"Welcome brothers and sister," the boy says.

He looks about Lisa and Jack's age, but it's hard to tell since he's obviously a shapeshifter.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"My name is Maleik," the boy says, his thick african accent fitting his current appearance. "My brothers and sisters and I are the Children of Lorien."

"The Children of Lorien?" I ask.

"That's right," the boy nods as four more Lorien step out from behind the lights, one asian male, one ginger girl with classic pale skin and freckles of Irish heritage, one blonde boy with a very muscular build, and one boy with a golden brown tan, lean muscle covering his body, wavy black hair, and a necklace of shells around his neck.

"I've never heard of you," I say. "What do you do?"

"We are the ones that will cleanse this world," Maleik says.

"Cleanse it?" Lisa asks.

"That's right," Maleik nods. "First, we'll finish wiping out those disgusting Mogadorians. Then, we'll purify this world of the unworthy."

"Unworthy?" I ask. "Unworthy of what?"

"Of our mighty lord's gifts," Maleik says. "God saw fit to gift us with powers, and so we will use them to remove those that God deemed unworthy."

"God?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "You mean Legacy? He doesn't choose who's worthy or not. He doesn't particularly care. And he's not God."

"I know it's hard to believe," Maleik says. "Even for the man who met our lord God. But He is lord. And he has given us the power to purge the unworthy from this Earth. He does not wish to dirty his hands cleansing this world himself, so he granted us the power to do it for him. We will kill the unworthy, and we will bring about the creation of new Jerusalem ourselves."

"You're insane," Jack says. "Do you even hear yourself? You're out of your mind if you think we'll let you murder billions of innocent people. Even more so if you think we'll help."

"I'd hardly call them innocent," Maleik snorted. "All through history the unworthy have been slaughtering each other in the name of their false gods. And those whom our lord God sent to try and save the unworthy were persecuted and murdered."

"Who?" I ask, now thoroughly confused.

"You've read the bible right?" Maleik asks. "Samson, the Strong Man, gifted with super strength, Daniel and the lion's den, the gift of animal telepathy, David and Goliath, also super strength, Moses parting the Red Sea. The list goes on and on."

"You make a fair point," I say. "But you're still wrong, and we're still going to stop you. There are five of you, and three of us. You're out gunned, out classed, and you're going to die here unless you surrender."

"Shame," Maleik sighs. "I was hoping that I could get the great James Ireland to join our cause. But I suppose you always were destined to die with the unworthy, weren't you?"

Then, suddenly, he's once again in his black form, streaking forward. I shove my hand toward him, blasting him backward into the cave before his four followers all sprint at me. I trip two of them with telekinesis but the asian and the girl both remain unaffected. As they reach me, the boy's right arm grows into a scimitar blade and he slashes at me as the girl throws a punch. I block the blade with a force field sword of my own while sweeping the punch to the side, feeling her strength just from her arm brushing mine. I slam a palm strike into her chest, launching her away with telekinesis before I shove the boy backward, knocking his arm aside and stabbing at him, the boy turning to the side and slashing at my back. There's a metallic clash behind me and I turn, finding Lisa blocking his sword with her knife.

"Go," she says. "He's mine."

I nod and turn to the others as the three others stand together, one holding a sword made of ice, another holding a glowing sphere, and the girl cracking her knuckles. I form a pair of force field swords just as Jack tackles the girl, the two crashing completely through a tree before beginning to roll around, trying to overpower each other. I charge the last two, seeing Maleik appearing in the mouth of the cave off to the side. The blonde boy, the one with the glowing sphere, shoves it at me and I drop into a slide, a beam of raw energy shooting over me, hitting a tree, the entire tree vaporizing before a shockwave shot out, blasting a dozen more and hurling us all, except himself and Maleik. I flip, catching myself telekinetically and lowering myself to the ground, narrowing my eyes at him. Great. Even worse than Ran.

"Lisa, Jack, leave," I say. "This is going to be very destructive."

"But-" Jack begins but stops when I give him a cold stare.

"I can handle myself," I say. "Leave this to me. I've faced worse."

Jack nods after a moment and turns to leave as Lisa charges her opponent again. Before she can, Jack grabs her, throwing her over his shoulder and running through the trees. I turn back to the five insane Lorien before me, cracking my knuckles and encasing my fists and feet in force fields.

"You're very brave," Maleik smirks. "Get him."

I roll under a second beam and when I stand, I slam my right foot down, the force field launching me at the blonde, my right fist crashing into his abdomen, blasting him away, sending him crashing through two trees before he rolled to a stop. I turn the instant I hit him, punching at the girl only for her fist to crash into mine. I hear a whistle behind myself and jump, flipping backward over the tan boy wielding a massive broadsword of ice. Then, as I land, I form a force field sword of my own and slash at him. He moves to block it but my sword blasts through his, bisecting him at the waist. I jump instantly, a beam of energy shooting under me, this time the concussion blocked by a forcefield I form around myself.

They're good, but they aren't accustomed to fighting other Lorien. I turn to the boy with the energy blast legacy and fire a force field spear, only for the girl to hurl a stone through it, shattering it. I turn to her, leaning to the side out of the way of a jab, then ducking under a haymaker. As I stand, I slam an uppercut into the underside of her jaw, throwing her backward. Then, I roll under an energy blast, sending a force field spear through his gut. As I do, I hear a scream and a roar behind me. I spin, finding that Maleik is gone. I stand, forming a small dome under my foot, then as I lean forward, it expands a half a foot in an instant, launching me forward. I begin to stride, each step landing on a force field dome, launching me forward even faster than Nine can run. As I blur through the trees, spinning and ducking past trees, I hear Maleik roaring, and the telltale crashes of Jack's strength. Finally, I reach the road, landing and skidding to a stop to take in the scene before me.

Jack has not been holding back, massive cracks and craters filling the area. And yet, Maleik is alive and unharmed, while Jack has a couple of gashes in his back and Lisa has some more serious ones in her left calf. Just as I land, Maleik, who was charging at Lisa, leaps over a kick from Jack, crashing down on Lisa and sinking his teeth into the side of her neck. My eyes widen as she screams, her body convulsing in pain and blood flooding out around Maleik's jaws. Then, jack grabs Maleik by both jaws and pulls him off of Lisa before slamming him to the ground with one hand and pulling the other back.

"We're not the only ones," Maleik snarls. "It's too late to stop us. We've already begun."

And then, he's just gone. I sprint to Lisa, placing my hand over her wound, stopping her bleeding with force fields and holding my free hand out to Jack.

"Grab on!" Jack grabs my hand and I close my eyes, focusing on the cave.

The moment the temperature drops, I shout for John. I'm not disappointed. Maybe three seconds after I shout, John is kneeling beside me, healing Lisa's neck. I sit back, using telekinesis to remove the blood from my hands then sigh, leaning back against the table. I look to Jack, seeing Marina healing his back. I can't help but stare at her. There's frost in her hair, and her skin in unusually pale. Worry floods me. Apparently the problem hasn't gotten any better. I look back to Lisa just as John finishes her neck then heals her leg. She sits up, sighing, and rubbing at the spot she had been bitten.

"You'll be alright now," John says. "James, what did that?"

"Shapeshifter," I say. "He turned into some black animal thing. No fur, though. Black skin. Glowing red eyes. Fast. Durable. It can get hit by a speeding car and not be effected while breaking the car."

"Definitely dangerous," John says. "Did you kill it?"

"It teleported away," I say.

John swears and I glance at Marina again, seeing she's finished healing Jack and is simply staring at the wall.

 _Did you find out why her powers are out of control?_ I ask John.

 _Yes,_ John replies. _But I can't help. It's because of you._

Somehow, I'm not surprised. I suppose I sort of expected that to be the case all along.

"What did the shapeshifter want?" John asks. "I'm guessing it wasn't a random attack."

"He's the leader of a group of Lorien psychos calling themselves the Children of Lorien, who think Legacy is God and wants them to wipe out the Mogadorians and any humans without legacies," I say. "I killed one, but one of them was...problematic. And then Maleik, the shapeshifter, got to them, so my fight was cut short."

"I see," John nods. "I'll go and warn Adam."

"You may want to go now," I say. "Maleik said he wasn't the only one, and that it's too late to stop it."

"Right," John nods. "Guess we'll see about that. If he's right..."

"There's going to be a war," I say. "Which is going to have serious consequences for the public opinion of Lorien in general. Yeah. I know. We'll just have to make sure it doesn't come to that."

John nods and leaves.

"We'll wait outside," Lisa says, turning and walking out, Jack following quietly, looking troubled.

I swallow hard. I really don't want to have this conversation. I've been avoiding it for too long, though. And clearly I'm not the only one it was hard on.

"I'm sorry," I say.

Of course, that's as far as I get. Before I can utter another word, an icy cold hand slaps me, then I get the coldest and second best kiss of my life, and then Marina's sobbing into my chest. I wrap my arms around her, feeling my own eyes start to water. I tuck my face into her hair, letting the tears fall. After several minutes of this, I pull back reaching up to wipe my eyes and then staring at Marina's now frost-free hair.

"So, you ready to come home?" I ask. "I think we have some decorating to do."

Marina stares up at me before smiling and nodding, kissing me again. She's still cold, but it's quickly fading. I stand, pulling her up and wrapping an arm around her as we walk toward the door.

"That was easier than I thought," I smile. "And here I was trying to think of a speech to get you to forgive me."

"I haven't forgiven you," Marina says.

My heart misses a beat and I look down at her, seeing her grinning up at me.

"You'll have to earn my forgiveness," she grins.

I want to ask what she means but she merely winks, grins even wider, then hurries through the door and down the stairs, leaving me behind, confused and somehow afraid. I follow her down the stairs, seeing her talking with Lisa and Jack, and finding Ella waiting, grinning from ear to ear.

"What did she..." I trail off, staring at Ella. "Alright, fine, you were right and I was wrong. Now what did she mean?"

"You'll see," Ella smirks. "So, how do I look?"

"You look eighteen," I say.

"Exactly!" Ella cheers. "I finally figured out how to make myself older!"

"Impressive," I nod. "You know what this means, of course."

"Yup," Ella grins. "I can ask Nine on a date."

"Actually I meant that you have to get a license," I smirk. "And I have a better idea. Make yourself look twenty five."

She did so and barely looked recognizable, yet was without a doubt a very beautiful woman. Nine was going to flip.

"Perfect," I grin. "Ask him out like that and see how long it takes him to figure out that it's you."

Ella grins wickedly, nodding.

"Are you giving her bad ideas?" Marina asks, walking over.

"Oh definitely," I nod.

"Ella, whatever he tells you to do, ignore him," Marina says.

Ella laughs, shrinking back down to eighteen and grinning.

"Don't worry," Ella smiles. "It's nothing bad. So, we should probably get back to the school, since Nine's the one currently in charge of the students."

"Oh God," Marina groans. "Those poor kids."

We all laugh, heading back inside and using the stone to teleport to the one closest to the school.

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.

* * *

New Join

I sigh, rubbing my eyes as I watch the extremely disappointing excuse for a fighting competition. Nine had the brilliant idea to have his students fight mine to see who's the better teacher. The only problem is, I only train the ones who are already strong enough to fight other Lorien and win. Therefor, in the style of tournament we're doing, one fighter can either fight all of the other side, or can be switched out at any time. As of yet, Anna has not been switched out since she started. Nine's students are not pleased.

"Nine this is pointless," I groan finally as she beat yet another student quickly. "None of yours is strong enough. It's like John nowadays fighting John before I met him."

"That's only Anna," Nine says. "Besides. She's about to fight my star pupil."

I look to the sparring ring to see Anna hovering before a boy who looks about thirteen with a brown bowl cut, cargo shorts, flip flops, an open plaid short-sleeved shirt, over a white short-sleeved shirt. He looks terrified, especially since everyone before him has been beaten by a small girl. But, he steps into the ring anyway. The bell rings and suddenly there are two of him, one holding a ball and chain made of ice, spinning it over his head, and the other holding an icy sword in each hand. I swallow hard. Anna's skilled, but those aren't exactly friendly competition weapons. I glance at Nine who looks troubled.

"David, I told you, no swords," Nine says.

The boy looks up at him apologetically before the swords transform into bats.

"He's skilled," Marina says. "Maybe he'd make a good Garde."

"Probably," I agree.

Just as I do, Anna streaks forward, rolling past the bat wielding one and crashing headfirst into the other, the copy exploding into a cloud of loralite-colored energy and fading. Then, Ana flips, shooting toward the other again. He swipes at her but she rolls out of the way. Then, he spins the other way, a bat catching her foot and sending her into a tailspin before she landed heavily outside the ring. Nine grins triumphantly.

"Alright," I say. "He's pretty good. You're just lucky I forbade Ran from entering. "Jack, you're up."

Jack stepped into the ring and the boy, now grinning confidently, spins his bats as two copies appear on either side of him, one with nunchucks and the other with a bow staff.

"Remember Jack, keep the strength under control," I remind him, Jack nodding and cracking his knuckles.

"You can do it Jack!" Lisa cheers, Jack glancing at her then at his feet before looking back up at David with a determination I have only seen on him one other time, when Maleik was attacking Lisa.

I grin at Marina who grins back. Then, we look back as the bell rings. The two copies charge. The one with the nunchucks almost instantly explodes as Jack slams a palm strike into his sternum. Then, the other copy slams the end of the bo staff into Jack's jaw. Jack staggers toward the original and a bat crashes into his side. I can tell the strikes are being kept deliberately weak, but it still clearly hurts. The other bat swings around and sweeps Jack's feet out from under him. Jack growls in annoyance and flips to his feet, the two Davids keeping themselves on either side of him. He looks back and forth between them before suddenly, the ice weapons begin to pummel him. For a moment, all he can do is hunker down and take it. Then, he spins, forearms smashing the bo staff and one bat at the same time before he catches the other, halting the swing and narrowing his eyes at the original. Then, he turns, hurling David out of the ring, the copy fading. I smirk at Nine who groans.

"Anyone else you'd like my students to wipe the floor with?" I ask.

"Actually, yeah," Nine says before nodding to one of his students, a girl.

She walks confidently out into the ring, smiling sweetly at Jack, who seems slightly confused. Then, in the blink of an eye, he's staring at Lisa. More accurately, the girl has shape-shifted into a second Lisa. Jack takes a step backward, but still crouches, readying himself. The girl cracks her knuckles before inhaling. I instantly clamp my hands over my ears just before the girl screams, the sound painfully loud even with my hands over my ears. Jack is nocked unconscious in seconds, and the girl stops. I lower my hands, staring. That's a new one.

"Where on earth did you find her?" I ask.

"Russia," Nine says. "One of the few to survive and remain hidden. Ella helped me."

"I see," I nod. "Well, Ella helped me and Marina track down a couple of new recruits as well once we got back here from the cave. Let's meet one now, shall we? Hunter. You're up."

A boy with a lean yet well-toned build and light brown hair walks into the ring, lifting Jack and carrying him to Lisa, then walking back into the circle, pulling off his brown leather jacket and tossing it off to the side to one of the two other new recruits. One of those two is the geomancer. The other is practically another Five, only skinnier. And seemingly more skilled. But Hunter, he's special. Of all of my students, and of all of the legacies we've seen. Of all the combinations. His are the most impressive, and the most useful. If I played favorites, he'd probably be in the top two simply for raw potential and skill.

Hunter has reaction time, strength, night vision, water breathing, he was fireproof, he can control the weather, and he has electrokinesis. He can generate and control electricity. He says it's easier to simply send it through an object, preferably something conductive, but that he can mold it to suit his needs, such as forming weapons. The part that really impressed me the only time I sparred with him, however, was the fact that conductive materials, includes my force fields.

"Who's he?" Nine asks.

"New," I say, smirking. "And he beat me in one round."

"No way," Nine says, eyes bugging out. "How?"

"You'll see," I smile.

The bell rings. The girl, now back in her own form, screams. Hunter doesn't flinch.

"What..." Nine gapes.

"How?" the girl demands.

"Electricity can charge the molecules in the air," Hunter says. "And when properly charged, those molecules can stop sound from passing."

"He controls electricity?" Nine gapes. "Awesome!"

"That's not all," I grin. "Let her have it Hunter."

Hunter looks up at me then smirks before looking back at the girl. Then, with a wave of his hand, a tornado roars to life, scooping the girl up, flipping her upside down and proceeding to spin her round and round and round. Finally, after several seconds of this as Hunter holds his hand out, he lowers it and the tornado dies down slowly, gently setting the girl on the ground where she stays, groaning and holding her head as the nausea passes.

"This is going to end poorly," Nine sighs. "How about this. Who wants to play Tug of War?"

Every student in the room raises a hand. Even Ran.

"We'll do capture the flag next," Nine says.

"Better make it a big field," I snort. "More than half have speed, and Anna can fly and turn invisible."

"Can we do it outside?" the geomancer, Cameron, asks suddenly. "My powers are pretty much useless in here."

"Sure," I nod as we all head outside, Nine bringing a rope that is usually used for climbing.

Once outside, we stretch the rope out and I form the limits for each side. Then, the students line up, a loop being tied in each end. I form a platform for myself, Nine, and Marina then grin at Nine.

"On your mark, get set, go!" Nine calls out.

It's not a very friendly match. Nine's students clearly have a lot of strength on their side. But Jack is in the loop, wearing it across his chest as Anna flies away from them, pulling on his hands. Cameron has his entire body minus his head encased in stone, using the extra weight to pull, but still the team is slowly skidding toward Nine's. I look off to the side where Parker, the one that reminds both me and Marina so much of Five, is standing off to the side, looking uncomfortable and out of place. Finally, he walks over, a ball baring rolling over and over in his hand in a nervous habit.

"Um, do you mind if I help?" Parker asks Jack.

"Feel...free," Jack growls, struggling to keep from loosing his footing.

Suddenly, Parker's free hand is encased in steel and he takes hold of the rope behind Jack, the rope instantly halting and Nine's team slipping. Parker looks to Jack who instantly slips out of the loop, Parker pulling it on. Then, he turns, beginning to walk away, the rope going with him. Nine's team regain their footing and bring Parker to a halt, until Cameron creates himself a mobile platform from the ground below him, the platform slowly carrying him along the ground, the rope following. Finally, it's over and everyone stops.

"How the hell did you do that?" David asks.

Parker blushes and pulls the sleeves of the too-large sweatshirt he's wearing up, exposing his steel skin. His jeans are pulled up next, his legs matching.

"I turned any skin not exposed to steel, except my hand, since I needed it to hold on," Parker says shyly.

"Oh my God," Nine says. "He's like Five."

"Yes he is," I say. "He can't fly, though. But he has the same introvert personality as Five. Well, early Five, at least."

"I see," Nine nods. "Alright. Any word on the...you know."

"John hasn't reported back yet," I say. "But it's not exactly close by, so there's no reason to be alarmed."

"Right," Nine nods. "Alright then. Let's play capture the flag."

* * *

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	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.

* * *

Incident

John landed lightly beside the fire, staring across the flames at Adam, who was staring into them almost lifelessly. After several seconds, John silently made his way around them, setting his hand on Adam's shoulder, feeling him tense then relax.

"A group of Lorien have declared war," John whispered. "They said they were going to start with the Mogadorians, then any humans without Legacies."

"I haven't seen anything," Adam replied, just as quietly.

John nodded to himself, looking around. Just as he did, thunder cracked overhead. He looked up, staring at the pitch black clouds above them, swirling around and around overhead.

"What was the forecast today?" John asked.

"Partly cloudy with a chance of snow," Adam said, also staring at the clouds, as were the rest of the Mogadorians and the human soldiers. "No storms or tornados."

"I thought not," John nodded. "Be ready. Your sword is under the boulder on your left, the biggest one."

Adam nodded and John walked away, floating into the air and looking around. There was no sign of any Lorien. Lightning flashed overhead, briefly illuminating the area below him. Then, in the split second where his eyes were unable to identify anything from the change in light, a dozen screams rang out only to be instantly silenced. John formed an enormous fireball, holding it above himself and allowing himself to become visible, staring at the wall. In place of the human guards, there were seven Lorien. Four were female, and three were male. The one in the middle was white, judging by his hands, but had his features hidden with an open dark grey sweatshirt with the hood up over a white Tee-shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers. The other two males had matching black trench coats and jeans, and the girls had black blouses and skirts.

"Well well," the middle one spoke. "What an honor. The great Number Four. I had hoped we would meet. It will be an honor to test myself against you."

"Who the hell are you?" John asked.

"Your friend caused a lot of trouble for my men," the man said.

"So you're the leader then?" John asked.

"Leader," the man snorted, a dark cyclone of dust forming around his lower body, lifting him into the air level with John. "It's not quite as simple as that. But, at base, yes. I'm the leader."

"And that mother fucker that James fought?" John asked.

"Let's call him a cell commander," the man said. "One of many."

John nodded forming a ball of ice with spikes reaching off of it in his other hand. As he did, the man chuckled and held his arms out to his sides. John hurled the fireball, launching it at the man. However, before it could reach him, the man pointed at it and a bolt of lightning blasted through it, making it explode before barely missing John, striking the fire pit and exploding, sending burning logs flying in every direction. As they did, the other six Lorien dropped to the ground, raising their hands.

John watched as one male dropped his hands, a wave of stone spikes exploding out of the ground around him into the Mogadorians, killing multiple. Next, the other male slammed his hands down, flames shooting across the ground, swallowing nearly a dozen. The women acted together, one swinging an arm and sending out a wall of ice spikes and the other making a whipping motion, a whip of water forming and shooting forward, a morning star forming on the end, impaling the Mogadorian it hit. The Pyrokinetic stomped, sending out more flames. John landed in front of them, holding his hands out, the flames halting and forming a massive fireball which then launched toward the Pyrokinetic. At the last second, it split apart, the flames sweeping into the air and vanishing, the Pyrokinetic lowering his arm and grinning as a wall of ice spikes shot past John.

Then, the ground began to shake violently, everyone being thrown off their feet. Then, it shattered. Enormous chunks of stone the size of houses were ripped free and thrust into the air in a line, blocking the ice and shielding the Mogadorians. Then, Adam was at John's side with his sword, helping John up as the leader landed with the rest of the Lorien.

"Ah yes," the leader said. "The abomination. The filthy Mog that stole the powers of Number One. I'll take pleasure in ending you."

"You're going to have to go through me," John said, stepping forward.

Just as he did, silver beams of energy shot out of his eyes at the leader. Before it could hit him, however, the blast suddenly belled outward as though washing over a dome, then solidified into stone. A moment later, it shattered and the leader dusted himself off.

"Nice try," the leader snorted. "Accept it, John. I'm stronger than you."

He strolled forward, John beginning to rapidly send fireballs and spiked spheres of ice at him. The leader yawned, holding a hand up, the fireballs going out like candles and the ice spheres shattering. Then, he stomped, the ground below John shooting upward and launching John skyward only for a downburst with the force of a dozen tornados to crash into John, sending him hurtling at the ground. At the last second, the leader slammed both hands into the ground and the ground below John opened like a gaping maw before a blast of steam and superheated water exploded out of the new geyser, blasting John skyward again, though it failed to burn him. As John fell again, ice grew on him rapidly, encasing him in a sphere before he crashed down, the ice shattering and leaving him lying on his back. He groaned, looking around to see Adam fighting the other six, each of them holding a very broad and stout sword made of stone. John was instantly impressed. Even after years of not fighting, Adam was wielding his sword and his earthquakes perfectly, sending out earthquakes at the perfect moment to knock the Lorien off balance while attacking with his sword. However, there were simply too many for him to fight alone, and they were slowly beginning to overwhelm him.

John rolled to his feet, sprinting forward. He hurled a fireball at one of the Lorien but just as he did, a massive stone hand exploded out of the ground, catching the fireball and closing into a fist and shooting into John, meeting his face and sending him flying backward. John flipped, crashing down hard just as Adam slammed both fists into the ground, sending out an earthquake so massive that it sent a ripple shooting along the ground, tearing it asunder and sending the six Lorien flying. Then, he stood, darting after one of the males just as he flipped, a pillar of stone catching him at and angle before he stepped aside and it shot toward Adam. Adam punched it, sending out a massive earthquake as he did and blasting the pillar into dust.

John spun, flipping to his feet and turned to the leader as the leader slowly dragged his foot in a semicircle, ice leaving a trail after it. Then, his other foot did the same on the other side, flames leaving that half of the circle. He raised his hands, the ground around him breaking apart and floating into the air around him. Water began to form in a spiderwebbed cage around the stones, a cyclone formed around the leader's lower body, and lightning flashed overhead.

John crouched, lighting his arms on fire and forming spiked balls of ice over his hands in preparation. Then, the leader swung his hands upward and all hell broke loose. Lightning bolts the size of trees began to shoot out of the sky and tear along the ground, smaller branches splitting off a dozen feet off the ground and reaching outward. A bolt hit among the Mogadorians, the main bolt blasting a pair into pieces while several branch bolts sheered another's legs off. As the lightning bolts were blasting the ground, the fire shot into the clouds, gigantic fireballs beginning to fall along with the rain, which froze into icy spears. The ice on the ground shot outward, freezing the stone wall Adam had made, which the floating stones then obliterated. The water shot outward, encasing several Mogadorians' heads, drawing the lightning. After another moment, John finally regained some sense and flew to Adam, grabbing him by the shoulders and flying away. They stopped a mile away, watching as lightning and fireballs continued to decimate the area, obliterating everything for half a mile.

* * *

I stare at the TV, watching the footage of the destruction. Time and again the attack had been played, the fireballs and lightning bolts hitting the ground and obliterating everything. The Mogadorians are gone. Adam is probably gone. John, who had gone to investigate, is probably gone.

Beside me, Nine stares in stunned silence and Marina covers her mouth, staring wide-eyed and with tears rolling down her cheeks. The students are all training, completely unaware of anything having happened. But it won't stay that way. It can't. They'll find out. And then we'll have to tell them that we're at war. But either way, it's obvious now. There's no Garde and Lorien division for us. We're all Garde now. And I have a lot of work to do to get them all ready for war. And to be honest, I'm not sure even those of us who fought Setrákus Ra himself are ready for this type of war. This is Lorien against Lorien. Legacy vs Legacy. X-Men 3: The Last Stand and all that.

"That's..." Nine trails off, shaking his head.

"They're gone," Marina breaths. "They're all gone."

"We have to tell them," I sigh. "All of them. And Nine, I'm going to be taking over training your students as well."

"Right," Nine nods. "There's one other thing we're going to need."

"Gather them," I say. "All of them."

Marina nods. "Even Five."

Nine nods and teleports away with his necklace. I turn off the TV and turn, walking into the main room where Nine and I had had our students training jointly. They all fall silent as I walk in. Ran steps forward, noticing something was wrong instantly.

"Hawkeye, Rookie," I speak evenly, both of my oldest friends stepping forward instantly. "You'll be training them in hand-to-hand combat and combat marksmanship."

Both nod, then look confused.

"Which?" Hawkeye asks.

"All of them," I say. "You have three days. Make them black belts."

Hawkeye and Rookie look to each other then back at me, but I've already moved on.

"Ran, you're training defense and reaction time," I say. "And my students, you're going to be helping Nine's get to you level fast."

"Is something going on?" Rookie asks. "Why are we suddenly training everyone like..."

"We're at war," I finish. "A group of Lorien declared war a little while ago on the Mogadorians and any humans without Legacies. I specifically told three of my team who were with me at the time to keep quiet about it because we believed we could handle it...At midnight last night, John went to the Mogadorian camp to investigate. At twelve ten, the camp was leveled by a storm generating lightning bolts the size of trees and fireballs. As far as we know...there were no survivors."

Panicked shouts and babbling begin to ring out instantly. I let it drag on for several minutes before forming a force field staff and slamming it down, making a loud boom and silencing them.

"We don't know for sure," I say. "And if I know John, he's just fine. He and Adam are most likely on their way here already. Nine has left to gather the other council members. In the mean time, it's my job to train you to effectively fight in a war against other, possibly stronger, Lorien. I'm not going to lie. This will without a doubt be the single most dangerous thing you will ever see. Fighting a Lorien is completely different from fighting a dummy, or a Mogadorian, or a human. You all have a small taste, but none of you were trying to kill each other. Fighting a Lorien to the death, as any of the council members, along with Hunter, Jack, Lisa, and Ran's team can tell you, is one of the hardest things you can do. Go into every fight expecting them to be more powerful than you, better trained than you, and capable of things you've never even heard of before."

"What about you?" one of Nine's students asks. "You've fought a lot of Lorien to the death. Is there a trick?"

"Yeah," I nod. "Don't die. As long as you're alive, you can keep fighting."

"Well that's encouraging," Hunter grumbles.

"We need to recruit as many as we can," I say. "I will personally take care of that. For now, you'll train in reaction time and hand-to-hand combat."

The students nod, Hawkeye and Rookie taking Nine's students to train in hand-to-hand combat while Ran trains my own's reaction time. Marina and I walk outside and to the teleportation stone nearby.

"What do we do?" Marina asks. "How do we make sure that none work for them?"

"Give it a second," I say.

Then, in a flash of cobalt light, Ella's standing before us, face blank.

"Are they dead?" I ask.

"No," Ella says. "But they were both hit by a bolt of lightning that the camera didn't show. John was able to heal the worst of the damage but they're still resting in the mountain. As for the army you want to build, I took the liberty of going around and gathering it for you. Turns out that just enough of Legacy stuck with me for me to use the stones to boost my telepathy. Not really to talk but to draw Lorien. Once I got some to the stones, I scanned them for allegiance to the others and recruited only the ones that could be recruited."

"How many?" Marina asks.

"Two hundred," Ella says. "But he's been recruiting longer than us. He's got more."

"How many more?" I ask.

"He has six hundred," Ella says. "Ours are hidden in the Himalayas."

I nod, stepping forward and setting my hand on the stone, looking back at the others.

"I'll be back before the training ends," I say. "I'll see you then, alright?"

Marina nods, stepping forward and kissing me. I allow myself a moment to let the world and the suffocating dread of the impending war slip away before pulling away and teleporting.

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